Human Rights

Alleged discrimination against foreign children in the Techno Girl programme

A Zimbabwean woman, Sandra Chinyanga, is unhappy because her daughter was dropped from the Techno Girl Programme after three years of consistent participation. Now she has been told that her daughter should never have been allowed to join the programme, because she is an immigrant.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 5 March 2014

Sex workers demand recognition and march to Parliament

Sex workers and sex worker advocates in Durban, Polokwane, Cape Town and Johannesburg took to the streets on Monday to honour International Sex Worker Rights’ Day. Similar marches were held in cities and towns all over the world. The protesters were calling attention to the human rights abuses suffered by sex workers and demanded legal recognition of sex work as a form of employment.

Marlise Richter

News | 4 March 2014

Ugandans in South Africa unhappy with anti-gay law

Uganda’s brutal new anti-gay law puts Dembe Ainebyona (not her real name) in a difficult situation because she may never see her country of birth again.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 4 March 2014

Uganda’s apartheid-style atrocity deserves sanctions

The leaders who spoke of an African renaissance and who brought about the African Union ignored gay rights. We are seeing the consequences of their omission today.

Leon Linz

Opinion | 3 March 2014

Province tries to run illegal trial with quack medicine

The Eastern Cape Health Department has instructed hospitals to give an untested medicine to patients with tuberculosis. It has not received ethical approval to proceed with this clinical trial. Now it appears the project has been scrapped, apparently after the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) asked the national government to intervene.

GroundUp Staff

News | 28 February 2014

What does Uganda’s “Ëśanti-gay’ law mean for gay people?

On 24 February 2014, Uganda passed legislation that criminalises homosexuality. Paul Semugoma, a gay Ugandan activist who recently gained temporary residence in South Africa, says that the legislation’s impact will be extensive among all Ugandan society. The legislation, according to Paul, is more about consolidating President Yoweri Museveni’s power ahead of the 2016 Ugandan elections than about dealing with any meaningful social ill.

Jonathan Dockney

News | 27 February 2014

Is Cape Town Pride serious about gay rights?

Cape Town Pride 2014 (CTP) takes place from 21 February to 1 March. The annual festival aims to celebrate gay rights in South Africa. This year’s theme is “uniting cultures in Cape Town”. However, people from communities around Cape Town have said that they feel CTP excludes them and the serious issues affecting them as gay people.

Jonathan Dockney and GroundUp Staff

News | 27 February 2014

Paul Kasonkomona found not guilty

Paul Kasonkomona, a human rights activists working in Zambia, has been acquitted after almost a year of legal proceedings.

Jonathan Dockney

News | 26 February 2014

Refugee facing arrest in Congo ordered to leave SA

A 47 year old Congo-Brazzaville man has been told to leave South Africa though there is a search warrant (avis de recherche) out for him in his own country.

Tariro Washinyira

News | 25 February 2014

Battle against Uganda’s anti-homosexual law is not over

The battle against Uganda’s anti-homosexual law is not over. Health and HIV may be the new frontier to confront homophobia explains Dr Andrew Tucker.

Andrew Tucker

Opinion | 24 February 2014

Ugandan doctor, released by Home Affairs, thanks South African activists

Paul Semugoma is free and can live and work in South Africa. This followed a dramatic day of court action and negotiations between lawyers representing Semugoma and the Department of Home Affairs.

GroundUp Staff

News | 20 February 2014

Gay rights doctor narrowly avoids deportation to Uganda - Home Affairs accused of contempt of court

Release Paul Nsubuga Semugoma. That was the essence of a court order against the Minister of Home Affairs yesterday. Yet, Home Affairs proceeded to attempt to deport him after the court order was made. As of last night he was reportedly still in custody.

GroundUp Staff

News | 20 February 2014

Three murders in one night - “Doubling Khayelitsha cops won’t be enough.”

Khayelitsha police officers had to deal with three murders in one night, the inquiry into policing heard today.

Adam Armstrong

News | 19 February 2014

Justice: A Personal Account

Constitutional Court judge Edwin Cameron has published a new book, Justice: A Personal Account. It is a forceful defence of the rule of law and South Africa's Constitution.

Edwin Cameron

News | 18 February 2014

Khayelitsha police overburdened says “honest cop”

Brigadier Zithulele Moses Dladla dealt with only three murders the last year he was stationed at Wynberg Police Station. When he was subsequently transferred to Khayelitsha Police Station, he saw four murders in his first weekend.

Adam Armstrong

News | 18 February 2014

Three suggestions to improve the lives of thousands of people in South Africa

It has become taboo in much of the world to discriminate against people because of their religion, skin colour or sex. Despite recent setbacks the same goes for sexual orientation. Gradually we are realising that these are arbitrary distinctions, at least when it comes to law and policy.

Nathan Geffen

Opinion | 18 February 2014